Holy. Freaking. Crap.

I have 2 rants that I really need to go on before I can do anything else tonight…

So I finished 5 exams last week, that was brutal. Really brutal

*Segue*

Alex Chernik, a freshman, died last week. There is speculation, with good enough evidence, that it was a suicide.
Which brings me to talk about UVM. Based on my own personal experience, as well as looking at other schools, I really think UVM should consider suicide/stress preventative vacations. Honestly, 10 weeks with no break is tough. It was alright in the beginning, but as we’re approaching our 8th week of school without a break, I think all the students are starting to feel overwhelmed. Midterms and papers seem to be loaded on quite heavily at this time. Even after the five exams I had last week, I still had a paper due this week and another midterm next week. After having midterms, I just want to have a break. Midterms are different than finals in that we still have to go to class while preparing for them. With finals, we have (even if they aren’t that much) reading days during which we have time to study without worrying about having to go to class. The point is, midterms are almost more stressful than finals and we should have a break, even if it is a 3 or 4 day weekend. I don’t know the circumstances of the boy who died, but honestly, the kind of environment that seems to seep through campus is one of stress, anxiety, and melancholy that may be driven by work loads, weather, etc would make it hard for anyone to keep his spirit up. It’s hard for even the people who don’t have too much work to be happy, just because the overall atmosphere is subdued. I’m not sure I’ve felt this in previous years. It could just be me, and the fact that all of my classes are upper-level ones, but I’ve talked to other people, and they seem to feel the same way. I’m definitely going to be praying about this a lot.

That rant was long, I know, but I need to rant about one more thing… please.

I was browsing the internet when I stumbled across a Catholic forum. (I am not a Catholic but I was curious so I putzed around). I then came to a post asking what sexual immorality meant in the Bible. The literal word they use is the Greek porneia which in the English Bible is sometimes translated as fornication, or sexual intercourse between two heterosexuals outside of marriage. Now, here’s where I get a little frustrated. First of all, someone posted saying that pornography, or the portrayal of explicit sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual excitement and erotic satisfaction, was the root of porneia. I’m sorry, which history book says that modern English came before Greek? The poster used this argument as her basis to say that porneia meant fornication.

Well, here’s my argument (and I don’t believe the word porneia came from the word pornography. Jeez.) Porneia can have 4 definitions associated with it:
1. Adultery – or having sex, while married, to someone you are not married to. Easy enough.
2. Bestiality – or having sex with animals
3. Incest – or having sex with family members and
4. Homosexuality – or two people of the same gender having sex. This one is a little harder.

Now, I have heard that the only time that people back then thought that homosexuality was not okay was when a heterosexual man basically raped another man to humiliate him (usually after defeating him in battle), which is what the Sodom and Gomorrah story was about. The men of the city were going to rape the men (angels) who were visiting in order to insult them (Genesis 19:1-9). Leviticus 20:13 says that a man should not sleep with another man on penalty of death. However, in Deuteronomy 14:8-10 it says we aren’t supposed to eat shellfish or pork, so if we uphold one, we must uphold the other, right? Still, when Jesus came, all of these rules became sort of obsolete… So I believe that the former idea I talked about concerning homosexuality is accurate.

So where is the part in all those definitions about fornication? As far as I can tell, from the Old Testament, there was nothing significant said about sex outside of marriage being bad. The New Testament says that temple prostitutes who had sex with temple-goers to worship other gods and to raise money for the temple itself were immoral such as in Corinth, but that’s about it. *Sigh*

My point is, sometimes our translations of the Bible may not be accurate. Does that mean the Word itself is inaccurate. Hell no, it just means that every man, including the ones who translated the Bible, is imperfect. Do I think sex before marriage is bad? Well, to some degree I think it can have detrimental emotional and physical consequences (and I wouldn’t say this unless I had first-hand experience), so I would caution those who want to give themselves away to someone who isn’t wholeheartedly going to be devoted to them for their whole lives. Is it immoral, though? I’m not sure, but for right now I’m going to say, I don’t think so.